RocketTheme Joomla Templates
Drawer Slides at home!
Written by Administrator   
Monday, 14 June 2010 11:39

I just picked up a magazine called “The Family Handyman” at McNally Robinson this weekend. Admittedly, it was the cover that caught my eye: LOADS OF DRAWER SLIDES being used in “lower cabinet rollouts for increased kitchen storage”.  What a great idea, though not necessarily new.  There are all kinds of rollout-type attachments you can get (see Lee Valley or IKEA), but the idea of rolling out the contents of a cupboard (especially the lower ones) is always a great one.

I read the article and realized that the first thing I would do is use bigger (heavy duty) slides.  I realize that there are “kitchen” or “commercial” type slides out there that may be well suited to a kitchen setting but if you’re like me, and “over-engineering” is the norm, then you need something with more load capacity.  Consider this: If you think that your cabinet rollout will generally see no more than 100 lbs of stuff, then build it for 300 lbs!  My kids (I love them dearly) will find a way to use those rollouts as steps to help them reach the chocolate syrup that I’ve hidden in the top cupboard or that special glass on the rack.  Plan for those unintended uses!

Sounds crazy, I know.  When we started carrying drawer slides, the first thing I did was to build a slide-out garbage tray under my kitchen sink.  I used medium-duty slides that were rated for 100 lbs per pair.  I don’t know about you but I’ve NEVER carried out a garbage bag that weighed more than that so I was quite confident that I’d allowed enough margin for “unintended uses”.  Nonetheless, within a week there were complaints about how the slides weren’t working properly. Someone had stepped on the tray and bent the slides while they were extended… no more slide-out tray. 

…and no more convenient stepping stool.

 

Click HERE for the link to the article in The Family Handyman!  Great magazine, by the way, definitely worth checking out.

 
Do you really know what you're bonding?
Written by Peter Atchison   
Wednesday, 10 February 2010 11:14

Things you need to know about Adhesives and the substrates you're trying to bond.

Glues As one can imagine there are endless applications for adhesives. There are also "traditionalists" in their trades who will never part with what they've always known to be true. In today's world, traditional bonding methods are challenged by new substrate materials, costs of labour, costs of tools and available space in which to produce their finished goods. Newer forms of adhesives offer an alternative to both traditional adhesive methods and mechanical fasteners. The evolution in the manufacturing of trains, planes, buses, furniture and even home construction materials has created a new generation of applications where screws, nuts, bolts, rivets, nail, staples, wood glues and even welding no longer work as well as they once did.

In the development of today's products, manufacturers are seeking to achieve three very basic principles: faster, lighter and stronger. Engineers have struggled to incorporate these three principles into their designs and in many cases they can achieve two of the three principles quite easily, but the third is often elusive or appears costly. With the advancement of technology and the introduction of what was once considered "space-age materials" into our everyday lives, the result is one critical issue for manufacturers to resolve: How do we assemble this?  The most cost-effective method in so many cases is "Adhesives". Not to be confused with your elementary school white glue, wood glues, or even the so-called “super glues” you buy at the hardware store. Today’s industrial adhesives are highly engineered materials and in many cases, most people wouldn't believe where these products are being used today.

One material that has troubled numerous manufacturers, including the furniture industry, is the broad use of MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard). The reality is that these products are essentially wood fibers blended with a bonding agent that once cured, hardens into a formed substrate that looks like wood. One very important aspect which is often overlooked is that a manufacturer might think they're bonding "wood to wood"… but are they?  The truth is, if anything, it's more likely a "plastic to plastic" application. Wood glue, by nature, soaks into the grains of the wood. Once cured, it’s usually very strong. MDF, however, has no grain and so the wood glue can't penetrate the material. It fills the joint but doesn't have a lot of strength. As a result manufacturers turn to mechanical fasteners (nails and staples) which are thought to be better. Why not use a better adhesive?

Cyanoacrylate adhesives, by comparison, have incredible strength and perform best when the bond line is very thin (you could read this as “less is more”). Testing usually results in what we call “substrate failure” (where the adhesive holds and the substrate breaks), not “adhesive failure”. Unfortunately, most people’s preconceived ideas about adhesives get in the way of a perfectly good (and practical) solution.

Similar to the MDF application, we visited a prospective client’s facility and discovered the current supplier had done a really good job of selling their wares (ie not necessarily the best product for the job).  In this situation the manufacturer was bonding a metal product to another substrate. The manufacturer was using a specialized structural adhesive specifically designed to bond raw "metal to metal".  However, it turned out that one of the substrates was a powder-coated metal component, so it wasn't a true "metal to metal" application. It was in fact, a "plastic to plastic" application. As it turned out, we were able to reduce the customer’s input costs by having them use one product for all their applications instead of two or three. Though this isn't typical, we do know users of adhesives who don't always know "why" they’re using them.

Again, it’s important to truly know what you're bonding! Still have questions?  You’re welcome to use our Contact Form and consult with our "Adhesive Systems" factory trained specialist to discuss your needs!

 

-Peter Atchison, Steeves Agencies Inc

Last Updated on Wednesday, 10 February 2010 21:59
 
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next > End >>

Page 1 of 6

Contact Us

Steeves Agencies Inc
581 Marjorie Street
Winnipeg, MB R3H 0S8
Canada
Phone: (204) 474-1239
Toll Free: 1-800-318-1119

Or fill out our form

Steeves on Twitter

steevesagencies's avatar
Steeves Agencies steevesagencies
Loading...

Last 4 tweets from steevesagencies:

Site Members

Contact us today to request access to member-only content.



Please note that none of your personal information will be shared with any other company or individual.

Today's Poll

Where did you hear about us?
 
We have 2 guests online